To Die a Ranger
by Ecrilthir
Summary: Lunick and Solana are the best Rangers that have ever been recorded, but now their time is neary up thanks to a lone-gunman, how will they spend their time now they know its running out. Rangershipping, ElitaXSpenser, MurphXAria. Will contain Character Death.


**Chapter One: Your Time is Limited.**

Lunick awoke looking around his room, he heard what had awoken him at this Arceus forsaken hour, Someone was practically bashing the door down,

"Come in" Lunick called, looking around for Minun, who was asleep atop a pillow on the floor, a small blanket over him, the door opened and Solana walked in looking around,

"Aren't you up yet?" Solana's half scolding, half amused voice floated towards him,

"It barely six Sol" Lunick yawned,

Solana blinked and looked at Lunick's clock, it quite clearly showed that the time was 6:06 Am, "Opps, well your awake now" Solana smiled,

"You've been on the coffee again haven't you?" Lunick asked amusedly,

"Yep" Solana smiled brightly,

"Give me ten minutes to get ready and I'll meet you for our daily coffee" Lunick yawned widely again and Solana left frowning, then she walked back in, "You changed my alarm didn't you?"

"I don't go in your room, Aria went in there yesterday remember?" Lunick replied, opening his curtain's letting light flood in, which caused a very Angry Minun to awaken, and shock both of them.

"Thanks' Minun" Lunick grunted as he patted his hair down, while laughing at Solana's when she rushed out of the door. He only then realised what today was, his eighteenth birthday, he hadn't told anyone it was otherwise Solana would be fussing over him and telling him not to do any work, which he decided was not a good idea, he had spent two birthdays as a ranger working as hard as any other day of the year.

Ten minutes later Lunick and Solana found themselves alone in the Canteen both drinking a very strong cup of coffee, desperately trying to forget the earliness of the hour. An hour later Spencer walked in yawning, he walked over to them and sat down next to them,

"What in Arceus name are you doing up at this time?" Spencer asked, bleary eyed,

"Someone meddled with my alarm clock, so I woke up and then woke Lun. That was about an hour ago" Solana replied, "I bet it was Aria"

Spencer laughed and then got a coffee, they sat there for an hour, watching as Ranger's walked or one skipped in, they looked around and remembered,

"Today's the day when those new rangers start right Leader?" Lunick asked,

"Yep, I need to go to Fall City to meet with them, then take them to Summerland, Wintown and finally back here" Spencer grumbled the last part,

"We'll be in Fall City around the same time, Professor Hastings has some new upgrade he wants testing" Lunick replied,

"I just don't hope we have a repeat of last time" Solana added shivering, Lunick shivered too and Spencer laughed,

"You have to admit it was rather amusing" Spencer laughed,

"We had no eyebrows for a month!" Solana replied,

Spencer just laughed again, Murph came wandering over holding a cup of something that smelled like Hot Chocolate, "Mind if I sit with you guys?"

"Hey Murph, you don't need to ask" Solana smiled and Murph sat down,

"Thanks you" Murph smiled, he sat down and sipped some of his drink

"Mind of we go on Patrol today Leader, I'd rather not be here when the place is swarmed by new rangers" Lunick asked

"Sure, Take Solana with you" Spencer smiled, "I bet anyone of you 500 Poképounds that one of the first questions I'm asked is where you two are"

The four of them all nodded, and rolled their eyes, Lunick and Solana were world renowned for their ranger skills and each year more and more people were becoming rangers to try and meet them, so many had become rangers that Sinnoh and Kanto had become Ranger guarded.

They sat talking for a while, then Lunick and Solana decided it was high time to go Patrolling, so they smiled to Spencer, told him to try and enjoy himself and walked out,

"Sometime I wonder who the leader is" Murph joked, "Them two or you"

This caused Spencer to laugh again, and nod, "Yep well they are on the Council and Rank 10 First Class Rangers as well as Top Rangers"

"I wish I was a rank 10 First class" Murph grumbled,

"And one day you will be Murph" Spencer smiled, "I bet if you put your mind to it, you can reach it before Aria does"

Murph smiled and laughed.

Lunick and Solana walked through the forest side by side smiling at each of the Pokémon they saw running around their feet, several times they saw a bigger stronger Pokémon moving around, such as Swampert or Venusaur. They walked slowly to Fall City, hoping that time would go faster the slower they walked, which failed miserably, they reached Fall City around 12 PM, Spencer closely behind them.

"You left an hour before me, how is it I reached here only three minutes later than you?" Spencer asked with amusement

"We took it slow, you probably ran" Solana replied, sticking her tongue out at Spencer,

"How did you know?" Spencer asked laughing,

"You always run everywhere" Lunick replied laughing,

Spencer shrugged as he walked towards the Port, "I'll see you two later"

"Bye Leader!" Lunick and Solana called to him as he walked away, they headed towards the research lab where Hastings worked along with a handful of assistance, they looked around and saw Hastings smiling at a box which they were shore contained a styler or something likely to explode but it was just a styler, which they raised and spent half hour testing on a Pikachu and Pichu combo.

Once he was happy, Hastings let the two of the go out to enjoy the rest of the day, they decided to see if Spencer was having 'fun' with the fifteen new Fiore recruits, one of which had been assigned to them to tutor, as they worked as a team they had been told it would be stupid to give them one each.

The walked casually down past the Ranger base where a Blonde haired women walked out, noticing them she walked over and started boasting about her record, and how she was about to beat Lunick's, to which Lunick replied,

"The Day my record falls is the day I swim across the Wintown Rapids" He said it rather jokily and Aria stormed off, Solana gave Lunick a high five and they continued to walk, they noticed the large group, Spencer and Joel standing at the front giving orders, they snuck around and nodded to Joel, who seemed to have better eye sight than a Ferrow. They sat listening as Spencer stood giving the welcoming speech then he asked the fateful question,

"Any Questions?" Spencer asked,

Nearly all of the hands rose, and Spencer sighed, "Fine, go ahead"

"I heard Lunick and Solana were stationed in Fiore, will we ever meet them?" One female ranger asked,

"I'd say you can meet them very soon" Joel joked,

"Really how soon?" another asked,

"In about 5 seconds" Spencer replied catching on, Lunick and Solana popped up and walked around to stand next to the two leaders and they heard screams that made them picture a rock star walking out onto stage,

"Maybe they'd like to answer the questions" Spencer joked with his two Protégée's, they backed away,

"We were just here to congratulate you all and wish you all the best" the two of them spoke in unison, then they blinked and walked away, quite entertained they had done that so faultlessly,

"Well that was Lunick and Solana anyway, you'll probably end up working with one of them at some point" Joel started again, "Now any non-Lunick or Solana questions, yes you in the Ringtown uniform"

2 Hours later they walked along the road, enjoying Fall Cities Beauty, then they felt it, someone was following them, they walked down a different path, a slightly quieter one, hoping to ambush their follower or at least catch them off guard, they walked slowly now then Lunick felt it, the air had become heavier and colder, but something couldn't happen now, could it?

He turned to see a single man standing there, a metallic object in his hand, he raised it and pointed at Solana's back, Lunick reacted without thinking, he pushed Solana out of the way as the Bullet was fired, it slammed into his chest and he fell to the ground, another Shot and Solana fell next to him, they lay there trying hard to breath wondering where Minun and Plusle had rushed off to, maybe they'd been scared by the loud bangs. They lay there half dazed, half in terrible agony, it felt like a white hot poker slammed into their chest, or back in Solana's case, they lay there, no-one around to help them,

"Thi-th-this i-i-is a La-lam-lame w-ay to die" Lunick managed to spit out, he placed his hand over his own wound and felt the red gush of blood on it, _Well this is the worst Birthday ever!_ Lunick told himself mentally, he felt a great weight on his eyes and closed them as Solana followed suit.

Minun and Plusle rushed they knew where to head, they knew who to fetch, they ran through the crowds, they'd passed earlier, then they saw someone, they knew him, he could help them, they ran up to him,

"Mii-Min Min!" Minun called to the figure, Joel turned and looked at them calmly, the group had vanished along with Spencer,

"Hello Minun, Plusle, where's Lunick and Solana then?" Joel asked,

"Pul-Pull!" Plusle replied panicky,

"What's gotten into you two? Has something happened to Lunick and Solana?" Joel asked worriedly, the two Pokémon nodded quickly "Lead the way Quickly!" Joel chased after them, they ran towards where the two rangers lay, Joel grabbed his Styler and called Aria, she was in the area and could help,

"Leader what's up?" Aria asked,

"Lunick and Solana" Joel told her, "Something's happened, I just had Minun and Plusle run up to me in a state, I'm nearly there now, can you come help?"

"Where?" Aria asked,

"Behind the old apartments" Joel told her, she nodded,

"I'll be right there" Aria confirmed, then Joel turned the corner, seeing what lay before him

"Thanks Ar- Arceus, Aria come quickly, they've been shot!" Joel whispered,

"WHAT?" Aria shouted, "Leader I'm coming now!" She ended the call and Joel ran over to the two down rangers, he saw their eyes were foggy and out of focus, he grabbed his phone and immediately called the hospital, they'd have to come get them, Aria arrived five minutes later and she nearly fainted,

"How can someone do this?" Aria asked,

"I- I don't know, some people are monsters" Joel replied, they saw the ambulances arrive and the emergency paramedics jump out and rush over, they quickly loaded Lunick and Solana into an Ambulance each and then Joel climbed in with them,

"Aria, go to the base and get the operator to inform Cameron and Elita, also if you can contact Spencer and Murph, then we can let all base know ASAP. Then go and tell Hastings, knowing him he'll want to know so he can tell the Union. And don't inform the public, this is to be kept to Ranger Council and Bases" Joel ordered

"But.." Aria wanted to protest, "Yes leader, right away" she ran off, Some blood still staining her uniform, she ran as if it was her own life on the line, straight into the base and the operators desk,

"You need to send a message to Summerland and Wintown, tell them, Lunick and Solana have been attacked and are being rushed to hospital" Aria snapped at the Operator,

"Of course" The Operator nodded, they typed the message and sent it straight away.

Aria typed the message furiously as she ran, Murph was the only Ringtown rangers number she had, other than Lunick's, she had worked with both meaning they needed to share numbers to communicate.

_Murph. _

_Lunick + Solana. Shot. Hospital. Tell Spencer. Emergency. _

_Aria _

The message was short but she hoped Murph would understand and tell Spencer. She rushed into the lab and saw Hastings fiddling with a capture styler, that resembled Lunick's,

"Professor Hastings, Lunick and Solana have been shot and are being rushed to hospital, Joel has gone with them and told me to alert you to the situation immediately!" Aria told him

"What?" Hastings asked, he jumped round the desk and he rushed out with surprising Agility.

_**Summerland**_

Cameron walked humming to himself, he had only just managed to beat Lunick's record on the capture challenge, though he doubted it would stand, it was created before he became a rank 10 ranger let alone a 10 First Class.

He walked into the base and the Operator was standing there waiting, looking pale,

"What's happened?" He asked at once fearing the worst,

She silently handed him the message, he went pale as well,

"The Dragonite bus is ready" The Operator told him and he nodded rushing to the Lift and slamming his fist onto the right button.

_**Wintown.**_

Unlike Cameron, Elita was stationed in her base when the message came,

"Message from Fall City, Leader" The operator told her, she leaned over the desk to read it, no doubt another hopeless attempt for Joel to asker her on a date, he should know she had eyes only for one, Spencer.

As she read she became paler and Paler, "I'm going to Fall City think you can hold out?" Elita asked Chris, who nodded,

She ran out of the room and into the lift.

_**Murph in Ringtown. **_

Murph sat there looking through his messages, mostly Spam, why had he given out his e-mail to those guys? Then a message arrived only a few words but everyone sent a dagger into his heart, he grabbed his styler and called Spencer,

"Hey Murph, Problem?" Spencer asked, cheerily,

"Leader, its Lunick and Solana, they've been shot!" Murph's voices full of panic

"What?" Spenser exclaimed,

"I just got a message from Aria, they've been taken to Fall City hospital" Murph explained

"I'll be there as soon as I can, tell Aria that" Spencer told him, Murph nodded and ended the call texting Aria quickly that Spencer would join them soon.

**(Two Hours Later in The Hospital)**

Cameron and Elita sat down and looked around, Joel was pacing around, Spencer was sitting head in hands and they were just sitting there, they were waiting for news, Joel had told them when they arrived they'd been rushed into an operation to check they were fine, but he was sure it wouldn't last long. They had been there for another half hour when a doctor walked out smiling,

Spencer stood up and walked over, "What's happened?"

"Well we checked them fully, we've removed the Bullets and patched them up the best that we can, they should wake up within the hour, you can go to see them now" The doctor smiled as they all walked alongside Spencer into the private cubical, they saw Lunick and Solana, quiet paler than usual, laying eyes closed in two hospital beds, a heart monitor bleeped slowly, but at constant rate, giving them hope that they would be fine, they saw four seats already laid out, they each took one and look at the faces of the two younger rangers, Spencer felt Joel place his hand on his shoulder, he smiled slightly, they would recover they always did.

Half an hour Later Aria and Murph walked in, they told the leaders they'd keep watch while they inform their rangers of what had transpired today, they sat down together and waited, several times they noticed a increase in the number of bleeps coming from both rangers, not very large climbs but each time giving more hope.

Solana awoke around 9 Pm, she looked around the room dizzily, she then Noticed Aria and Murph, "Get a room you two!" She told them, As Aria was resting her head on Murph's shoulder while Murph was brushing through her hair.

"Solana!" Murph exclaimed jumping up and walking to stand next to her, she looked rather tired and dazed,

"Where's Lun?" She asked, then she noticed the other bed, "What happened?"

"You…um…..you got…." Murph tried to tell her,

"I got….?" Solana asked,

"Shot" Murph whispered,

"Really?" Solana asked as if she thought Murph was joking,

"Yeah" Aria nodded, "What do you remember?"

Solana looked over at Lunick, "We were being followed, so we decided to ambush our follower, if he had Pokémon we needed room so we walked down a deserted alleyway, then Lunick turned his head around and pushed me, he collapsed down then I felt a massive pain in my back and collapsed next to him, then I wondered where Minun and Plusle had gone, then nothing till right now"

"Ouch, so Lunick pushed you?" Aria asked, "Then collapsed? You don't think he might've been throwing himself into the way to save you?"

"Sounds like Lunick alright" Murph nodded

They spent half hour talking before Solana fell asleep, they sat back down and fell asleep. Around Midnight Lunick awoke looking around he saw Aria leaning on Murph, both Asleep and Solana asleep in another bed, he lay back and thought of what had happened, he realised what the man was caring and had thrown himself in front of Solana, then she had been hit too, so why hadn't the assailant then finished the job?

He lay there trying to think of any reasons why the attacker hadn't checked they were dead, that was his aim, Kill them both, but was it a random attack on a ranger or a calculated hit on them? Either way it was worrying, around six Solana awoke, noticing Lunick awake she smiled, which caused him to smile, then they turned to look at the two other rangers, still asleep. They sat there thinking for hours, desperately trying to think of any reasons why someone would attack them out of the blue like that, they didn't speak but the idea formed in both their heads, _Someone wanted them out of the way_.

They lay there pretending to be asleep when Murph and Aria awoke, they looked at the two and began talking between themselves, Solana and Lunick listened in as they began to talk, Murph was worrying but Aria was comforting, they got up and left around 8 am to get something to eat at the ranger base, they opened their eyes and saw they were alone,

"You ok Sol?" Lunick asked looking at her,

"Yeah, still can't believe we got shot, you?" Solana replied

"Yeah, take more than a nut-case with a gun to finish me off" Lunick joked,

"Don't joke!" Solana snapped at him,

"Sorry Sol" Lunick looked down, "So when do you think we can leave?"

"Dunno, maybe tomorrow" Solana shrugged,

"Cool" Lunick smiled as he nodded,

"So what do you remember Lun?" Solana asked,

"Being followed, trying to outsmart him, seeing the gun, pushing you out of the way, getting shot and then nothing" Lunick replied, "What about you?"

"the same as you" Solana shrugged, "Thanks for taking the bullet for me Lun"

"No Problem Sol, you're my friend, I wouldn't let anyone shot you without shooting me first" Lunick smiled

Solana smiled again looking around the room now Aria and Murph had left she saw that where they had been sitting a window lay open, allowing a gentle breeze into the room, Solana leaned up and felt pain shoot through her back, she lay back down, "That's gunna make ranger work dam hard if I can't sit up let alone stand or walk" Solana told Lunick,

"No doubt" Lunick nodded, "I say we focus on walking before we start work"

"Deal, now I wonder what's going to happen, no doubt its all over the news" Solana groaned, "We'll be swarmed by fans soon enough"

"Fun" Lunick replied smiling

They sat there talking for half hour before they heard two small noises from under their beds, they frowned and waited, Minun and Plusle looked up at them and jumped up and down. They jumped onto the beds they cuddled up to their ranger, looking up worriedly, as if checking they were ok, the two rangers lifted a hand and scratched the Pokémon behind the ears, to symbolise they were fine and would get up as soon as they could. They sat there for hours playing with the two pokemon, until the door opened and two people strode in, Joel and Spencer,

"Your both looking well" Joel nodded to them in turn as he sat down, Spencer couldn't look at them, they guessed he blamed himself,

"We would stand and Salute if we could Leaders" Lunick raised a hand and saluted, followed by Solana,

"You two are the biggest idiots sometimes" Spencer told them, "Yesterday of all days?"

"Ah, the new rangers, yeah sorry about that but we were told to patrol Fall City so we Patrolled Fall City" Solana shrugged, knowing Lunick couldn't.

"Hmm, ah well, I guess you couldn't help it" Joel shrugged, "Now we need to talk, you are being given three months Leave, to spend where you wish."

"I'll stay in Ringtown, try and help Tutor some Rangers" Lunick told Spenser, who nodded his consent,

"I'll stay too" Solana smiled, "You'll need someone to keep Lunick under control"

"Ok, so we'll speak with the doctors see how long it is till you can be discharged" Joel told them, while Minun and Plusle awoke, ready to shock anyone.

"Not that type of discharge!" Spenser exclaimed, "As soon as you can leave"

The two leaders left the room for a minute and then came back with a doctor, "Ah your both awake" The doctor smiled, "Well you took a dangerous wound and it was hit or miss at one point….."

"WHAT!" Spenser exclaimed, the doctor ignored this,

"But you've recovered, you can leave today if you rest in wheelchairs for 8-12 weeks and gradually start work once again" The doctor told them, they nodded and looked around, Spenser was looking slightly teary and Joel was purposefully looking out of the window.

"So when today can we leave?" Lunick asked, breaking the silence,

"12 PM" The doctor replied, "Can we speak to them alone?"

Spenser and Joel walked out, Spenser saying something about bringing them Coffee

"What's up?" Solana asked,

"I'm afraid I have bad news, The bullets were poisoned" The doctor said sadly, "This will shorten your lifespan by a significant amount."

"How long?" Lunick asked, "Do we have?"

"3 Years at the most" The doctor told them,

"3?" Solana asked,

"I'm Afraid so" The doctor nodded,

"And the Least amount?" Lunick asked,

"A week" The doctor sighed,

"So we have anything from a week to 3 Years" Solana repeated, "Is there?"

"No, nothing we can do" The doctor replied sadly.

"Thank you for being honest Doctor" Lunick told the man who nodded and walked out,

"Now what do we do?" Solana asked,

"Continue like nothing has happened? Right until the end" Lunick suggested

"Yeah, we can't let anyone know, but we'll fight this thing as long as we can." Solana smiled, not realising Minun and Plusle had rushed out of the room, both crying.

**(Ringtown 3PM)**

Spenser and Murph were looking between them they'd got all of the rangers either on missions or Patrol, then the doors opened and two people in wheelchairs rolled in,

"Good to see you both out of Bed" Spenser told them,

"Yeah, people kept stopping us, we made up a story like we were raising awareness of disability" Solana smiled.

"Good idea, anyway, I say its bedrest time" Spenser smiled, they rolled their eyes and left.

"We're going to have to tell him at some point" Solana told Lunick when they were alone in Lunick's room.

"That'll be a cheery talk, 'Hi Spenser, Me and Solana are poisoned and are going to die soon'" Lunick told her

They heard a gasp and both turned, there stood Murph and Aria,

"Ah" The two rangers summed up, now they'd had it!


End file.
